


Rebuild

by quandong_crumble



Series: Scars Fade [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Discussions of Nightmares, Discussions of PTSD, F/M, Healing, Iron Man 3 Compliant, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Less than 1000 words, Rebuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2013-10-12
Packaged: 2017-12-29 04:25:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1000859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quandong_crumble/pseuds/quandong_crumble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"I never wanted you to stop being Iron Man."</em>
</p>
<p>Pepper and Tony take the next step on the road to putting themselves back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rebuild

**Author's Note:**

> The first 400-odd words of this got quite a positive response on Tumblr, so I've tidied it up, finished it off and posted it here. Enjoy.  
> Thanks to [Saral_Hylor](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Saral_Hylor/pseuds/Saral_Hylor) for the quick beta.

“I never wanted you to stop being Iron Man.”

The words are quiet and filled with guilt and grief and a whole range of emotions in between that Tony has never been very good at deciphering. He looks at Pepper and tries to really see her, see her as she is now, not as Pepper Potts, the one perfect constant in his life.

She’s sitting on the bed with her knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped tight around her shins like she’s trying to be as small as possible. Like she’s trying to protect all the soft, vulnerable parts of her body with the strong bones of her legs.

“I am Iron Man,” he agrees. “Nothing will change that. And I know, honey, that you would never ask me to.”

“It’s been six months and you haven’t built another suit.” Pepper takes a deep breath and exhales shakily. She’s trembling, just a little. He can see the fine tremors in her fingertips.

Tony sits on the bed, shuffling backwards until he’s beside her. His weight dips the mattress so that Pepper tips towards him, pressed against his side.

“I’ve been busy,” he explains, defensive. “We’ve been busy. Cleaning up after AIM, getting the boys, the bots, working again, fixing Rhodey’s stupid suit, fixing your Extremis—”

He cuts off, not sure if he should keep talking. Pepper’s stopped trembling, at least.

“—fixing my heart,” he concludes. He resists the temptation to touch his chest through his shirt, where the last skin graft is giving him trouble. It’s still raised and red and itches like mad, and he reminds himself that he should change the dressing on it later.

“What brought this on?” He finally asks once her breathing has evened out and her death grip on her legs has relaxed.

“It’s silly,” she says softly. “I have nightmares almost every night. Nightmares of falling and burning I can handle. I’ve been talking to Dr. Kozar about them and she says it’s just post-traumatic stress. But I dream about you falling and there’s nothing that can save you. And halfway through the day I’ll think ‘I don’t know where Tony is’ and I’ll start panicking and all I can picture is your broken body from my nightmares and—”

Pepper breaks off, her breath coming short and rabbit-fast for a moment before she clenches her fists and forcibly slows her breathing down. Tony rubs her back gently, trying to match the rhythm that she’s set.

“I want you to build yourself a new suit. And I want you to build one for me, too.”

* * *

It takes a month. A month of keeping semi-sensible hours, of dividing his time between work and play. A month of Pepper dragging him out of the workshop to be sociable, or to eat, or to just take a break. It’s also a month of watching Pepper get scrapes on her knuckles and grease in her hair as she crowds against his side and lets him guide her hands through the torso of her new suit. She smiles more, sleeps better, and it feels like for the first time since Afghanistan he’s found balance. Equilibrium.

In the end, Tony invites Rhodey over for the grand unveiling. He sticks party hats on Dummy and You and pours three glasses of champagne and tries to calm the flutter of nerves in his belly while Pepper answers the door.

The two brand new suits look almost too shiny standing next to the battered, restored War Machine. Tony stands with Pepper on one side and Rhodey on the other and grins, triumphant.

“Holy shit,” Rhodey says. He takes a sip from his champagne, and then keeps drinking like he needs to give himself time to process. Like he can’t stop until he finds something to say. Finally he drains the glass and says, “good to have you back in the game.”

“I was never out of the game,” Tony corrects him, a little petulantly. “I just needed time to fix things. AIM, the boys, War Machine—”

“Thank you, Jim.” Pepper cuts him off smoothly. “We just needed time to recover a bit.”

Tony reflexively touches the spider web of scars on his chest. He can’t stop, not now that the last graft has healed, can’t stop reminding himself that it doesn’t hurt anymore.

“So, which one’s yours?” Rhodey asks, a teasing lilt in his voice. “The girly-looking one or the short one?”

“Ha ha. Pepper’s suit has a different configuration for the repulsors, that’s why it’s taller. She’ll be faster than me at top speed, and more stable.”

“I also don’t have much in the way of weaponry,” Pepper adds. “I don’t want… I want my suit to be more defensive, not offensive. I imagine I’ll be helping with clean up and search and rescue more than I’ll be fighting.”

“The Iron Lady, huh?” Rhodey says.

“That makes her sound like a sidekick,” Tony protests, then smiles. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. You can be my sidekick. Like Supergirl. Or Batgirl.”

“Tony, no,” Pepper says.

“Zoe Washburne?” Tony tries again, earning him a smile.

“That’s more like it. I’m no man’s sidekick, especially not yours.” The kiss she plants on his cheek takes the sting out of her words.

“So,” Rhodey says, balancing his empty glass on top of Tony’s toolbox and clapping his hands. “Are we going flying?”

“Oh yes!” Pepper’s grin lights up the room.

Rhodey grumbles good-naturedly at the ease with which Tony and Pepper’s suits assemble around them while he’s stuck waiting for JARVIS and the assembly platform, but they’re soon suited up and ready to go.

“Open the blast doors, JARVIS,” Tony quips.

“Sir, I have Director Fury on line one,” JARVIS responds.

“Take a message, J. Time to take this baby for a spin.”


End file.
